Improved Diagnostic Sensitivity of Bowel Disease of Prematurity on Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound

Bowel diseases of prematurity, including necrotizing enterocolitis, are dreaded ailments of neonates. Early diagnosis is difficult, with clinical and radiographic findings often inconclusive. We present a novel use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in detection of pediatric bowel disease. Early identification of compromised blood flow or an at-risk bowel can be quantitatively detected and monitored. This ability has implications for guidance of emerging therapies, allowing targeting of inflammation. These findings represent an advancement in detection of bowel disease in neonates.     

临床检验不合格血液标本产生原因及质量改进研究

目的:分析临床检验不合格血液标本的原因为何,研究相应的质量改进方法。方法:本课题自我院检验血液标本样本中抽取140份,其中2018年2月~2019年3月的70份命名成对照组,2019年4月~2020年3月的70份命名成试验组,前一组未进行质量改进,后一组进行质量改进,比较检验结果有何不同。结果:试验组这组的检验标本不合格率要比对照组那组的检验标本不合格率低,数据上是P<0.05的情况,即表明有统计学意义。结论:凝血反应、溶血反应、样本问题、送检失误、抗凝不全等是导致临床检验不合格血液标本的原因所在,实施质量改进可将血液标本质量提高。     

甲状腺手术患者围术期优质护理干预效果探讨

目的观察分析在甲状腺手术患者护理中予以围术期优质护理干预的应用价值。方法此研究从本院甲状腺手术患者中选取样本,总例数为80例,研究时间始于2017年4月,止于2019年4月,依据护理方案的异同对患者进行分组,试验组予以围术期优质护理干预,对照组予以常规性护理干预,对比两组护理结果。结果研究可得,试验组护理满意率相对较高,组间数据对比得知与对照组相比统计值合理(P<0.05)。研究可得,试验组并发症发生率相对较低,组建数据对比得知与对照组相比统计值合理(P<0.05);研究可得,试验组预后生活质量相对较高,组建数据对比得知与对照组相比统计值合理(P<0.05)。结论此研究得知,在甲状腺手术患者护理中予以围术期优质护理干预,能提高患者护理效果,降低其并发症发生情况,并进一步改善患者预后效果。     

Metastatic disease of the breast and local recurrence

Multimodality primary therapies for breast cancer combined with earlier detection have led to a sharp decline in the death rate from breast cancer in the UK over the last 40 years in the face of a rising incidence. The latest UK statistics from Cancer Research UK report 55,122 new cases of breast cancer in 2015 with 11,563 deaths from breast cancer recorded in 2016. Crudely, this equates to a cure rate of around 80% for all comers and demonstrates a clear improvement in outcome with 50,285 new cases in 2011 and 11,716 deaths in 2012. Despite this good news, there are still significant numbers of women (and men) who suffer from either a local recurrence or metastatic disease following apparently successful treatment for early breast cancer (Stage I to III). Only a minority of individuals, 6.6% with the stage recorded at diagnosis, present with stage IV disease. This review considers the treatment options available to individuals with locally recurrent and advanced breast cancer (ABC).     

Transarterial Chemoembolization vs Radioembolization for Neuroendocrine Liver Metastases: A Multi-Institutional Analysis

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Genome wide identification of new genes and pathways in patients with both autoimmune thyroiditis and type 1 diabetes

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) and Type 1 diabetes (T1D) frequently occur in the same individual pointing to a strong shared genetic susceptibility. Indeed, the co-occurrence of T1D and AITD in the same individual is classified as a variant of the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 3 (designated APS3v). Our aim was to identify new genes and mechanisms causing the co-occurrence of T1D + AITD (APS3v) in the same individual using a genome-wide approach. For our discovery set we analyzed 346 Caucasian APS3v patients and 727 gender and ethnicity matched healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using the Illumina Human660W-Quad.v1. The replication set included 185 APS3v patients and 340 controls. Association analyses were performed using the PLINK program, and pathway analyses were performed using the MAGENTA software. We identified multiple signals within the HLA region and conditioning studies suggested that a few of them contributed independently to the strong association of the HLA locus with APS3v. Outside the HLA region, variants in GPR103, a gene not suggested by previous studies of APS3v, T1D, or AITD, showed genome-wide significance (p < 5 × 10⁻⁸). In addition, a locus on 1p13 containing the PTPN22 gene showed genome-wide significant associations. Pathway analysis demonstrated that cell cycle, B-cell development, CD40, and CTLA-4 signaling were the major pathways contributing to the pathogenesis of APS3v. These findings suggest that complex mechanisms involving T-cell and B-cell pathways are involved in the strong genetic association between AITD and T1D.     

Pharmacological doses of melatonin impede cognitive decline in tau‐related Alzheimer models,once tauopathy is initiated,by restoring the autophagic flux

Alterations in autophagy are increasingly being recognized in the pathogenesis of proteinopathies like Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study was conducted to evaluate whether melatonin treatment could provide beneficial effects in an Alzheimer model related to tauopathy by improving the autophagic flux and, thereby, prevent cognitive decline. The injection of AAV‐hTau^P301L viral vectors and treatment/injection with okadaic acid were used to achieve mouse and human ex vivo, and in vivo tau‐related models. Melatonin (10 μmol/L) impeded oxidative stress, tau hyperphosphorylation, and cell death by restoring autophagy flux in the ex vivo models. In the in vivo studies, intracerebroventricular injection of AAV‐hTau^P301L increased oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and tau hyperphosphorylation in the hippocampus 7 days after the injection, without inducing cognitive impairment; however, when animals were maintained for 28 days, cognitive decline was apparent. Interestingly, late melatonin treatment (10 mg/kg), starting once the alterations mentioned above were established (from day 7 to day 28), reduced oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, tau hyperphosphorylation, and caspase‐3 activation; these observations correlated with restoration of the autophagy flux and memory improvement. This study highlights the importance of autophagic dysregulation in tauopathy and how administration of pharmacological doses of melatonin, once tauopathy is initiated, can restore the autophagy flux, reduce proteinopathy, and prevent cognitive decline. We therefore propose exogenous melatonin supplementation or the development of melatonin derivatives to improve autophagy flux for the treatment of proteinopathies like AD.     

Electronic clinical records in primary care for estimating disease burden and management. An example of COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a significant health problem in developed countries. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of COPD in a single Spanish healthcare area. We also aimed to assess if there are any differences in prevalence and spirometry use among primary care services by utilizing already registered information. We designed a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of COPD and the performance of spirometries in each primary care service. A total of 8,444 patients were diagnosed with COPD, with a prevalence of 2.6% for individuals older than 39 years. The prevalence increased with age and was much higher in men. Significant heterogeneity was found in the prevalence of COPD and spirometry use among primary care services. COPD was underdiagnosed and there was wide variability in spirometry use in our area. Greater efforts are needed to diagnose COPD in order to improve its clinical outcomes and to refine registries so that they can be used as reliable sources of information     

Pharmacokinetics,safety and metabolite profiling of minesapride,a novel 5-HT4 receptor partial agonist,in healthy elderly and young subjects

Minesapride is a novel 5-hydroxytryptamine 4 (5-HT₄) receptor partial agonist that is expected to show efficacy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome with predominant constipation and functional constipation. An open-label study was conducted to evaluate pharmacokinetics (PK) and safety of minesapride. Japanese subjects, 12 elderly and 12 young, received a single oral dose of minesapride 40 mg/day in the fasted state. Metabolite profiles were also investigated in this clinical study and in an in vitro study using cryopreserved hepatocytes. Clinical results showed that minesapride was rapidly absorbed (C_max: 2302.1 ng/mL in the elderly group, 2117.5 ng/mL in the young group), and the plasma concentration then decreased with half-life of approximately 7 h. There were no notable PK differences between elderly and young groups. No serious adverse events (AEs) were observed. The only AE that occurred in 2 or more subjects was diarrhea. Metabolite profiles in plasma and urine were similar between elderly and young groups. No major metabolites exceeded 10% of unchanged minesapride, and results of the in vitro study suggested that there were no human-specific metabolites. From the viewpoints of PK and metabolite profiling, no dose adjustment of minesapride is warranted in elderly population without renal or hepatic impairment.